Staff WriterIf you’re going to begin a long, globe-trotting slog for a living, you could do worse than starting in South Africa with sunshine on your shoulders and a golf course that already owes you a few happy memories.
That’s the scene at the SDC Open, where Clément Sordet is back at Zebula Golf Estate & Spa with one clear intention: win the thing again, and make the fastest possible U-turn back toward the DP World Tour.
Zebula hosts the first of four co-sanctioned events between the HotelPlanner Tour and Sunshine Tour, and it’s also the starter’s pistol for the new Road to Mallorca season—30 events, 20 countries, and enough airport lounge coffee to keep a small nation awake until Christmas.
Sordet, now 33, knows Zebula like you know the route to your local shop—especially the last stretch. He lifted the SDC Open trophy here in 2022, winning in a playoff, and that victory helped power his first graduation to the DP World Tour. He’s not shy about the déjà vu.
“It’s great to be back,” he said. “Obviously I’ve got good memories here.
“When I see the 18th, and having won a playoff here, it’s good to be back.
“I always love to come to South Africa. The weather is nice and I really like the different type of courses and the different grass. I think it suits my game a little bit better than in Europe.”
There’s something about returning to the scene of a triumph that either fills you with confidence… or makes you start talking to trees. Sordet sounds like the former. And he’s got a very specific reason for wanting a quick start: last season ended with the kind of cruel arithmetic that golf specialises in.
The five-time HotelPlanner Tour winner finished 119th on the 2025 Race to Dubai—four places outside the top 115 that retained their DP World Tour cards. Close enough to taste it, far enough to miss the last train by seconds.
“Last year was tough,” he added. “I was actually in the top 115 all season, and I didn’t get into the last event which was when I moved out of the 115. My game has been good lately though so hopefully I can get going and I can get a win soon.
“I’ve worked a lot on my game, especially physically and mentally also. It feels great. I just want to get going. We’ve got a few events in a row and I’m happy to be here.
“I think the rough this year is a bit thicker than in previous years. The fairways are a little tight so hitting the fairways as much as possible will be important. The greens are good and are rolling clear so it should be good.”
That little scouting report—thicker rough, tighter fairways—reads like a polite warning label. Zebula isn’t asking for perfection, but it is demanding discipline: keep it in play, pick your moments, and don’t treat the rough like it’s a suggestion rather than a consequence. With greens “rolling clear”, the putter will have its say too, which is golf’s way of reminding you that no lead is ever safe until the last one drops.
And he won’t be swatting flies alone. The season-opening SDC Open field has plenty of proven firepower, including DP World Tour winners Haydn Porteous, Adri Arnaus and Yannik Paul—names that don’t tend to show up just to admire the scenery.
Tee times and what to watch on Thursday
The opening round of the SDC Open begins on Thursday at 6:30 am local time. Sordet heads out at 11:50 am alongside South African Pieter Moolman and England’s Matthew Southgate—three players who’ll all be eyeing the same thing: early momentum, before the Road to Mallorca caravan really starts rolling.
For Sordet, though, the plot is particularly tidy. He’s back where he’s already won, on a course that fits his eye, in conditions he enjoys, with a season ahead that offers plenty of chances—but not many better opening pages than this one. The only question now is whether he can turn fond memories into fresh hardware and make the SDC Open the first step in a sprint back to golf’s global stage.
